Powerful practice

Duke Energy lineman Jackie Lynn, left, and foreman Jimmy Mumma practice changing an insulator on a non-energized power pole on Thursday ﻿while training for an upcoming linemen rodeo at the Duke Energy Florida substation, 2465 Druid Road, in Clearwater. The upcoming event, Duke Energy Florida Lineman’s Rodeo, will be held Saturday ﻿in Winter Garden. The competition will host more than 100 Florida linemen who will compete in tasks used on the job, including climbing poles, insulating and isolating skills, crossarm change-out skills, and a hurt man rescue.

Florida continues to improve its plan for modernizing the interstate system in Tampa Bay. The Florida Department of Transportation has unveiled four new options for rebuilding I-275 near downtown Tampa, and some of them would ditch previous plans for toll lanes downtown while keeping express lanes for faster, …